Times Keeper
by DaynaWayna
Summary: STORY 1. A vengeful Voyager alters history, separates Jeff from Bogg and makes Bogg her captive. Lost in a time line that should not exist, Jeff meets a lady Voyager and together they try to right history and rescue Bogg. READ B4 CROSSROADS.
1. Default Chapter

Standing in the crowd so as not to be seen, Jeff and Bogg watched as the King spied the lovely woman across the room. He approached her and as she curtsied, King Edward took her hand and lifted her back up. "Hello. My name is Edward. And you are...?"

She blushed slightly but met his gaze as she answered. "I'm Mrs. Simpson...Mrs. Wallace Simpson."

Bogg checked the Omni and sure enough, it was green. "Hey, kid, are you SURE this is supposed to happen? I mean, losing the Kingship for love?"

"I'm POSITIVE," was Jeff's quick reply. "He decides that love is more important than the Crown...it's gotta be this way. He abdicates the throne to his younger brother, who becomes George VI. Then in 1952, Elizabeth becomes Queen."

As the two friends walk around to the back of the garden, Jeff gets a mischievous grin. "Hey, lemme have a go at it this time," he said as he grabbed for the Omni.

"Not on your life, kid! Lord only knows where you'll put us!" Phineas joked good-naturedly.

"Hey! I resent that!" Jeff laughed and started grabbing for the Omni. He chased Phineas around the garden, trying to corner him. Their laughter mingled with that of the party's attendees. Jeff finally had to climb a low fence and tackle Bogg from above to get the coveted prize. "Got it! I won!"

They collapsed on the grass laughing, out of breath and happy. "OK, kid...where to now?"

"Oh, I dunno, maybe...Siberia?" They laughed and shuddered at the thought of it.

"Ready when you are!"

"Right!" Jeff hit the activator button and they were off once again. But this trip was not going to be like all the others.

Moments after they entered the Time Corridor, it happened: the Corridor began to warp, twist and groan. Time seemed to explode all around them. Unable to communicate, the friends griped each others hands, trying to stay together. But it was too much; with one final bellow, the Corridor exploded, splitting the two friends apart.

Phineas was spinning out of control and he was scared. No one had covered anything like THIS in class! Then, he caught a new Time Corridor and righted his wild flight. But something was wrong...this corridor undulated like a slow moving worm and had no color at all. He felt the free fall of landing begin and prepared for the jarring drop. Yet, this too was not what he expected. He was excelerating too fast! How was he going to...? He blacked out before he could even finish the question.

He awoke later - was it hours or days? - in a small, dimly lit room. He got up slowly from the cot he lay on, only to bang his head on the ceiling. "Ow!" He rubbed his head ruefully.

"Oh, good! You have finally decided to join the living."

Bogg looked around the room to find the owner of the voice; it was familiar somehow...She peeked in from the small window in the door of his cell, and smiled. "I've always wanted to do this; you know, pay you back for all the ogling you did in class..." It was Victoria, the blonde from his Academy days! She was just as beautiful as he remembered. He smiled and went over to the cell door.

"Who, me? Ogle? Never." He flashed her his best smile. "I never ogle. I appreciate. Hey, just where the heck am I, anyway? And, where's Jeff? We got separated...And, could you let me out?"

She burst out laughing and the force of it surprised Bogg...why was that so funny?

"Let you out? After all I've gone through to get you here? I think not, my dear. As for your precious Jeffrey...well," she grinned, "he's lost somewhere in history. Gone forever."

Phineas was stunned. Gone? He sat down as she continued, "You see, I'm tired of righting history. I wanted to see what would happen if I altered history. And, I also knew that our ultimate "boy scout" and his trusty sidekick would try to stop me. So, I brought you here," she swept her hand around the cell, "and I sent Jeff flying into the cosmos." Phineas was speechless. "We are in the year 1942, where the Jew reigns over the German and Rabbi Goldstein is condemning Germans to death..."

"WHAT?" Phineas cried. "I may have been distracted by you in class but I paid enough attention to know that's not right! What have you done?"

She smiled a cool, calculated smile that scared him. She told him about her ultimate dream of becoming the High Keeper of the Omnitron: the machine that showed where all the Voyagers were in time and showed what was wrong with history. She went on to tell him that once she became High Keeper, she would control who went where to right history.

"It started about a year ago, VST (Voyager Standard Time). I had become the Assistant Keeper, a very prestigious rank for any Voyager. As I was running routine maintenance one day, I pushed the wrong button on the Omnitron, causing a red light in history. It was a very minor disturbance - one that would not affect the 'grand scheme' of things. I was frightened and not wanting to cause a scene, I decided to try and keep Voyagers from that particular time period until it was green again. I was surprised at how easy it was. And then I thought, 'If it's that easy to cause a disturbance and keep Voyagers away, I wonder what it would take to rewrite history...'"

Bogg's mouth dropped open in shock. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. She told him how, little by little, she started rewriting history, not allowing Voyagers into the times she had altered. Being the Assistant Keeper it was easy to hide for a time but the Council eventually noticed that something was going on; they were beginning to see the effects of altered history. So, the night they confronted her, she put her plan into action. In one fell swoop, she rewrote history and wrote out the Council. Now she was in charge of history, her history and she was the High Keeper, too!

"But, why hasn't any Voyager tried to stop you? We all have guide books, and we know how it should..."

Victoria cut him off. "I control the Omnitron. And, I have the only working Omni in all of history. I disabled all the others for the very reason you suggested. I am unstoppable." She smiled that wicked smile again, "Welcome to your future, Phineas." 


	2. Chapter 2

Jeffrey opened his mouth and screamed but silence reigned. He was spinning, falling, out of control...

Tracy, a cute, petite redhead, was reading under her favorite tree. She loved her books, especially Fiction: Plato, World War II, Alexander the Great, Viet Nam...she sighed and looked heavenward. How long had she been in this messed up world? And why? Was she the only one who remembered that what they now called fiction was really fact? She had never encountered anything like this in her 25 years of life or even her six years as a Voyager. Then, she heard a familiar sound, a sound she hadn't heard in a long time: someone was "falling" out of the Time Corridor! She scrambled up away from the tree just as a young boy hit the ground with a thud. Had anyone noticed? She looked around...no one even glanced in her direction. She dashed over to the boy and noticed the small timepiece in his hand. "He's a Voyager!" she whispered.

Jeff awoke to a cool cloth on his face and a woman staring down at him. He tried to speak but she silenced him, "Shhhhh, rest easy. You landed pretty hard there." He struggled against her and sat up, immediately sorry he had done so. He rolled to the side and vomited.

"I believe you have a concussion, hon. I told you to lie still for a reason."

Jeff lay back on the bed, thankful for the cloth she once again placed on his head.

"So, what's your name? I'm Tracy"

"Jeff. Jeffrey Jones." he said weakly. He looked around at the mix of 1950's and Victorian decor, then noticed the Macintosh computer on the desk, and the smallest, thinnest telephone he'd ever seen... and then saw the calendar: July, 1785.

"No, you aren't seeing things,Jeff. They all "belong" here in 1785. And, your Omni doesn't work either."

He looked at her curiously. How had she known? "Are you a Voyager?" he asked cautiously.

Tracy smiled and nodded. "Yup. Trapped here in this awful timeline just like you."

"Trapped?" He shouted, then immediately held his pounding head. He decided whispering was better. "But how? Where's my Omni?" He held out his hand and Tracy gave it to him. He pushed the activator button. Nothing happened. He opened it and looked in. It was dead. He looked back at Tracy, and suddenly realized he had no way to get to Bogg. He groaned, "How am I gonna locate Bogg if my Omni dosen't work?"

"Bogg? You mean The Phineas Bogg?"

"Yeah," Jeff said glumly. "Phineas Bogg. My one friend in the world and I lost him."

"Lost him? How?"

Jeff described what happened after they entered the Time Corridor: time twisting, and the Corridor exploding and separating them. Tracy listened and remembered her own experience. "So, how do you know Bogg?" he asked when he was done.

She smiled, remembering the first time she saw him. "We were in Academy together...sat next to each other, actually. I helped him out with his studies because he got easily distract..."

"Yeah, I know. The Blonde with the Mole." Jeff grinned. He was feeling a little better.

Tracy nodded, "Yeah, Victoria was her name. You know, he once asked me if I thought she'd go out with him!"

Jeff laughed weakly. "That's Bogg, all right!"

She laughed, then got a far away look, "I'd have gone out with him..." she realized Jeff heard her and blushed.

Jeff had come to expect the feminine attention his friend received, so he wasn't really surprised by her admission. "You really like him, don't you," he said quietly.

She blushed deeper, "Not any more than any other red blooded female that's ever met him...that smile and those blue eyes..." she sighed again. "Anyway, it's one sided. I was just a study partner and friend." It was time to change the subject, and quickly! "So, what are we gonna do about this," she held up her Omni.

"I can assume then that yours doesn't work either?" Tracy shook her head and he sighed, "OK. Let's see if I learned anything from 'ole Tom Edison."

He was foiled at every turn. Nothing he did worked. Try as he might, Phineas Bogg was unable to escape. She had caught him every time. He was locked up in the cell again. How could he let her beat him? He had tried to stop her and failed every time. He had even stolen her Omni to try and fix things at HQ but she had been prepared for even that. Her Omni was set so that he would land back in her office, wherever he tried to go. He just couldn't win. And, he couldn't even help his friend and partner, Jeff. He hollered in frustration.

Victoria came in. "Oh, what's the matter, Phineas? Feeling blue? I'm sure Jeff is fine, where ever he is. My sweet, sweet Phineas. WHY do you keep trying to run away? Do you not like how I treat you when you behave?" He glared at her. "Sweetie, I keep telling you: Just serve me, follow the rules, and you will be well fed and cared for. Try to escape and you get this." She pressed a button on the wall outside the cell and an electric shock raced through his body. He yelled in pain and crumpled to the floor. "Do you see? You can't win! I don't want you to be in here in pain. Please be a good boy. Quit trying to escape, and serve me...eventually with me. The choice is yours." She turned and walked out.

Phineas crawled to the cot and lay his head on it. He was discouraged. He felt beaten. Completely exhausted and out of options, his will crumbled. She had won. And with that horrible realization, he began to cry.


	3. Chapter 3

Jeff and Tracy worked day and night on both Omnis to no avail. Nothing they did could fix them. They were taking a break, sitting by the river, watching the paddle boats and Jet skiers, wondering what to do. Tracy looked despondently out over the water and sighed. Just then, a little boy came up to them, holding his hands behind his back.

"Are you Jeff and Tracy?" He asked them. They nodded. "The gentleman over there" the boy pointed to figure by the boathouse, "he asked me to give you this."

He held out a small box. "He told me to say, 'this will fix everything' ". Jeff took the box and thanked the boy. He looked over in the direction of the man, who nodded and smiled, then walked away.

"Do you know who that man was?" Tracy asked.

"No, I don't think so..." Then the memory hit him "Wait! Yes, I do! Hey! Isaac! Come back!" He dashed off after the man, Tracy hot on his heels, but the man was gone.

Tracy caught up to him, "OK, who was he?"

"Isaac Wolfstein. We met him in New York in 1932..."

"Wildman Wolfstein?" Then she smiled. "Let's go, quickly!" She grabbed Jeff by hand and dashed back to house.

Wildman watched the exchange from his hiding place and chuckled. "Dat boy! Such a smart one he is! I just hope he and the lady can figure out vat's going on!" He raised his hands skyward, "Would it be too much to ask for something to make any sense here? Vell, at least this is better than the Nuclear..." he shuffled off, shaking his head.

Back at Tracy's house, she closed the drapes and put the box on the table. "Why all the secrecy? What's going on?" Jeff asked. She opened the box to reveal... an Omni! They stared at it dumbly. Was this some kind of joke? Jeff gingerly lifted the Omni from the box and examined it. He opened it and the lights began to flash. Startled, he dropped it on the table with a clatter. They looked at each other, then the Omni.

Jeff spoke first. "Do you think..."

"It works?" Tracy finished. "If that was the legendary Wildman, I'm betting it does."

"But he told us that they'd taken his Omni when he retired and he was stuck in New York. That's why he wanted _us_ to take him somewhere!"

Tracy laughed, "The Wildman without an Omni? I hardly think so. My guess is that he decided to keep one as a souviner. I'll bet he had this one stashed somewhere."

"Then why did he make us-"

Tracy cut him off, "Vat? You tink I know everyting? How am I supposed to know vat he vas tinking?" He laughed at her impersonation of Wildman. "Always remember Jeffrey: Never, _never_ look a gift horse in the mouth. Now, lets see if this'll get us out of here."

They stood up and Jeff picked up the Omni. Then he took Tracy's hand. "Are you ready?" he asked. She took a deep breath and nodded. They held hands tightly as Jeff pushed the button, blasting them into the Time Corridor.

The trip was different than any other either of them had experienced before: muted colors flew by, mostly grays, and off-white...it was all so flat and lifeless.

* * *

Back at the villa, Victoria looked over at the sleeping form of her slave, and smiled. "I can't believe how EASY this has all been! Those old fools who used to run history were so naive...look at what I've got! Power, wealth..." she smiled and ran a finger across Boggs chest, "and the handsomest slave any woman could ever ask for. And, he has no one to turn to! It was brilliant of me to send Jeff flying off to God knows where," She giggled like a school girl. 

Bogg called out in his sleep, "Jeff...Jeff come back. Jeff..."

"Shhhh, Phineas, shhhh. You are with me now..." she cooed in his ear.

In his sleep, his broken spirit cried, "Jeff..."

* * *

Jeff and Tracy landed with a thud in a large, dimly lit Hall. Tracy gasped, "This can't be Headquarters!" She jumped up and started looking around the abandoned room for signs of the order that was once there. 

Jeff held his head in his hands. "Who could have done this?" he wondered aloud.

Tracy called from the darkness. "Jeffrey! Get over here and look at this!" He scrambled up and followed her calls to a large machine. He looked at it askance.

"It's the Omnitron," Tracy said. "And it's running! But..."

"But what?"

"This doesn't look right! Someone has tampered with it. The only person who has control over the Omnitron is the High Keeper, and he never lets..." she looked at the display and gasped. Jeff came to her side and peered at it. "Victoria," Tracy spat. "I should have known it was her," she fumed and started pacing back and forth.

"What does she have to do with all of this," Jeff asked.

"She was the Assistant Keeper of the Omnitron. I'll bet she's behind this. She always wanted to be High Keeper; did whatever she could to get in Garth's good graces. Maybe-"

Jeff cut her off as another figure entered the picture, "Tracy look!"

It was Bogg! The life was gone from his eyes, and that famous smile was nowhere to be seen. As Tracy looked at him, all her feelings came flooding back. And this time, his eyes caused her pain. "He looks awful, Jeff," she whispered. "Why isn't he fighting her?"

Jeff fought back tears as he watched Bogg sit down on a settee while Victoria talked. He and Tracy watched as Victoria's glass dropped from her hand, and were shocked to see Bogg retrieve it and get her a new drink. "He's acting like her slave," Jeff whispered back. "We've got to do something, Trace!"

"I can locate Voyagers, but I don't know how to reconfigure history!" Just then, she spotted a small hole in the console. It was just the size an Omni would be when open. "Let's see what this does," she suggested.

Jeff looked at the hole, then at Wildman's Omni and inserted it, face down. Lights started blinking. The Omni hummed and sections of the Omnitron started lighting up. It whirred and buzzed for a minute and then went dark. Jeff lifted the Omni out and looked at it. It still looked the same to him.

Tracy looked at the main screen and shouted, "It worked!"

"How can you tell?" Jeff asked.

"Look at it! Look at the Omnitron!" It was glowing again and was correcting what Victoria had changed. "This Omni still had a record of Real History! We did it!" She grabbed Jeff in a big bear hug.

"But how did Isaac's Omni still work when ours didn't?"

"I have no idea, Jeff, but it worked!" She looked at the console and started pushing buttons. "Now, to find Phineas."

* * *

**A/N**

_Seems I'd caused some confusion in the original posting of with some of my phrasing. I'd originally said Wolfman had _disappeared_, and most people took that to mean he'd Omni'ed out, which was never the case. So I have edited the scene slightly and added a bit to it, so now there should be no confusion. :) "Vat? You tink I'm perfect or someting?" :D_


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 

"Now, isn't this better my pet?" Victoria cooed a few hours later. They were in her villa on the beach. It was beautiful but Bogg didn't notice. He didn't care. He stared glassy-eyed over the balcony to the ocean.

She called to him, and he walked over to her and sat beside her. She kissed his cheek but she may as well have been kissing a statue. She rubbed his shoulders, "I'm glad you have finally accepted your new station in life." He just sat there, head down. "What, no snappy come back? No, 'I'll beat you somehow, Victoria!'? I'm almost disappointed...but not quite." She smiled a cold smile.

"You won," he said. "Jeff's gone, history's destroyed...do whatever you want. I don't care anymore."

That was all she wanted to hear. "At last, the mighty Phineas Bogg has been beaten!" Victoria pulled a gun out of her dresser drawer. "Should I keep you around for my pleasure or just put you out of your misery?"

She leveled her gun at him, laughing and enjoying this final victory while Phineas just stood there.

"Phineas!" The cry floated in from the balcony doors, then, became louder. "Bogg! Where are you?" He thought he was hearing things; it couldn't be! "Jeffrey?" Bogg called out, not really believing his own ears.

Jeff and Tracy went barreling through the house, calling for him, "Phineas! Fight it!" Tracy cried.

"I'm here, Bogg! We can _win_!" Jeff called. The two friends raced upstairs.

A small spark ignited in Bogg's once dead eyes and Victoria knew she was in for a fight. "NO!" She screamed "You can't do this! I won't let you have him!"

He lunged for her as she fired the gun. He fell to the ground, clutching his left shoulder. The room began to swim around him and she stood above him and smiled. "Maybe this won't be so bad after all..." She said as she looked at him lying there. Then he passed out.

Tracy and Jeff froze for a second, then both screamed, "BOGG!" They dashed into the bedroom "Bogg, No! " Jeff cried. He dashed over to the lifeless form of Phineas Bogg, leaving Tracy alone to face the enemy.

Victoria looked puzzled for a moment, trying to figure out where she knew this redhead from and why there was such a hatred in her eyes; and then she remembered. She scrambled up, away from the hellcat she was about to face and she decided to play her hand.

"Oh, my poor Tracy! You couldn't stand to think that Phineas liked me and not you, could you? It always bothered you that he wanted me..."

"You venomous bitch! What have you done?" Tracy flew at Victoria and knocked her to the ground, causing the gun to go spinning away from both of them.

Jeff cradled Bogg as best he could and tried to stop the bleeding. Bogg opened his eyes and stared vacantly. "Bogg," Jeff whispered, "hang on! Tracy and I are here! We'll get you back to VHQ or someplace...just hold on!"

His eyes focused on Jeff at the mention of her name. "T-T-Tracy?" He looked up at the ruckus around him and saw her: his cute little redhead. He smiled and lay back in Jeff's arms, "Tracy. I knew we would meet again..." He started to gasp and cough.

"Bogg! No! Hold on! Bogg!" Jeff called to Tracy in a panic, "Let her go! We've got him! Let history take its course!"

Tracy glanced over at the two of them and yelled, "Go! Get him out of here now!"

"NO! He's mine!" Victoria lunged for the pair but Tracy grabbed her by the hair and threw her back. She looked at Jeff for a split second and her look said it all..."I'll be fine, now go."

Jeff grabbed his Omni from his pocket and disappeared. He didn't know where or when it would take them and he didn't care.

"NO!" Victoria screamed at the spot where the two friends had just been. "I have the only working Omni! This isn't happening!" She spun around to face Tracy, who had a very satisfied look on her face.

Victoria's eyes narrowed as she approached her nemesis once again. She had retrieved the gun, and it was poised for the kill. "What have you done?"  
The shuddering of the house was her answer. Things slowly started to disappear from the room as History was restored to the proper timeline.

"What have I done?" Tracy repeated. "I'll tell you what I've done. I fixed the Omnitron and have righted history." She paused dramatically. "All your handiwork is being unraveled right before your eyes and you can't stop it."

"That's not possible!" Victoria shrieked. "I disabled all the Omnis!"

Tracy just shook her head. "You didn't count on a retiree keeping his for old times sake, did you my dear?" Victoria paled. Then Tracy held up two Omnis: her own and Victoria's. Tracy had taken it from her in their struggle.

"Your timeline," Tracy continued, "is folding in on itself and all it's people are disappearing. They never existed." She held up her Omni, poised for departure. "And without your Omni my dear sweet Victoria, neither have you."

"No!" Victoria screamed as she tried to grab her Omni but Tracy was a step ahead of her. With the push of a button, she was gone.

"NO! NO! NO!" She spun around the room, grasping at things. Everything vanished. She screamed angrily, cursing Tracy, Bogg, and anyone else she could think of as she slowly started to fade away.


	5. chapter 5

CHAPTER 5 

Jeff held on tightly to Bogg, praying to not lose him. They begin to slow down and Jeff prepared for the landing.

They landed on a battlefield, near a crashed Army Jeep. Jeff looked at the Omni: Korea - 1952. He looked around the area and spied a MASH Unit about a 1/2 mile away. He had a bizarre thought, and giggled. "I wish Hawkeye or BJ were here, I could really use their help"

Bogg groaned in pain, "Jeff...Tracy..." Jeff quickly started calling for help. They were found by a group of medics from the MASH unit. "We thought we'd heard a crash and came to investigate. We were just about to give up! Glad you called out or we woulda missed you!" They placed Bogg on a stretcher, and looked oddly at Jeff. "What's a kid doing out here in the war zone?" one medic asked.

Jeff thought fast. "Uhhh...USO!" he said. It worked. No one questioned him after that.

As Bogg recovered, Jeff stayed by his side and told him his story: about how Tracy found him and helped him, and how Isaac Wolfstein, gave them his Omni, the flight to VHQ, and how they fixed what Victoria had done.

Bogg was impressed. "Looks like I've made a pretty good Voyager outta you, huh kid?" They smiled at each other and said in unison, "Nah!" And they laughed.

Then, Bogg asked, "Hey, where is Tracy, anyway?"

Jeff looked a little uncomfortable. "I...ummmm...she...ahhhhh..." he swallowed hard, "She bought us time to escape and told me to get you to safety." He looked at Bogg, who had a distant look in his eyes.

Phineas smiled, "She was a great friend. She helped me out a lot in class. And all I could ever do was sit and stare at Victoria... I really blew it, didn't I kid?"

Jeff looked at him, confused. "Blew what, Bogg?"

Phineas sighed, "I blew my chances with her, didn't I? I always kinda figured she liked me but I never really knew it until we graduated. As we were leaving after graduation, she kissed my cheek, wished me Voyagers luck, and hit her Omni. I realized just then how much she meant to me...not just her help or her friendship, but HER. And here I was, always hoping to catch Victoria's attention. She's probably gone back to her job righting history and left me...errr us, here to carry on."

Just then, a nurse approached them. "You have your orders to move out, soldier." She said. "We need this bed for the boys who are fighting in this war, not some yahoos who go flying through the cosmos looking for fun..."

Jeff jumped up and grabbed her. "Tracy! You made it!" She hugged him back and smiled at Phineas over Jeff's head. He smiled back and thanked the Lord above for giving him another chance. She walked around the side of the bed, and with Jeff's help, got Phineas up. They quietly left the unit and disappeared into the night.

Tracy had set the Omni for someplace quite and restful. When they landed, they were back at VHQ. Bogg, Jeff and Tracy were greeted by dozens of cheering Voyagers, one of which was old Isaac Wolfstein. Jeff saw him, and he smiled. "Just glad to help, my friend." he said.

Once the Council members arrived, they announced the reason all Voyagers were called back: to honor three heroes who saved all history and time. Bogg, Tracy and Jeff were all a little embarrassed but got up and accepted the praise.

The reception was in full swing and Tracy had had just about enough for one evening. She stood out on the veranda, watching Phineas tell his story again and smiled. She sighed and looked down at her Omni, wondering when time would heal the part of her heart which belonged to him.

Phineas was telling the group around him about his harrowing experience. He kept scanning the crowd for Tracy, with no success. He wanted to talk to her, to tell her how he felt. Just then, movement outside caught his eye... there she was! He excused himself from the group, and headed towards her.

She was entering the time in history she wanted to go to on the Omni when Phineas caught up to her. "You weren't gonna leave your own party, were you?"

She spun at the sound of his voice, startled. She stammered, "Me? Oh! no! Well, not really...I mean, I...ummmm... oh damn!" She sat down on a bench and Bogg followed suit. She sighed deeply, wondering how she would ever survive this exquisitely beautiful and horrible moment.

"Why were you leaving," he asked again.

"Because..." she took a deep breath, "...because I just couldn't face saying goodbye to you again."

Phineas looked at her and smiled, which melted her heart all over again. He took her hands in his and her heart leapt. He cleared his throat. "Well, I'm glad I caught you. You see, I...ummm..." She bit her lower lip, hoping this would never end, yet end quickly. He started again. "Tracy, you've always been a good friend..." Her face fell, knowing that the 'we'll always be friends' speech was once again upon her and she turned away.

That one move told Phineas he was about to blow it again. He put his hand to her face and drew it back around to look at his. There were tears in her eyes. He started again, "No! I didn't mean it like that! Look, I don't always say things the right way, and I don't want to mess this up now!" He looked into her eyes, "Tracy, you mean more to me than any woman I've ever known."

Tracy's mouth dropped open and he smiled. "I never realized it until all this happened. When Jeff said you were with him I knew it wasn't a coincidence."

If she were any happier, she would have exploded with joy. And, for once in her life, she was speechless. Phineas looked concerned for a second, until she melted his fears by giving him a huge hug. When she released him, she touched his face, and nervously moved to him. Then she froze for a second, realizing that she was about to do something she'd only ever dreamed of doing. That pause spoke volumes, and being a true gentleman, Phineas brought her close and kissed her.

They were not aware that they had an audience. Jeff stood in an alcove, out of sight. He smiled and whispered, "Way to go, Bogg. And, good for you, Tracy." He heard people calling for the trio and decided to make his presence known. He scuffed his feet on the ground and started calling for them. "Bogg! Tracy! Where'd you guys go? There are people inside who want to talk to us!"

"Over here, Jeff!" came a flustered reply. He rounded a corner to see them standing next to a bench, Tracy straightening out her skirt and Bogg avoiding looking at her.

They went back inside to more cheers and the party wound down. After the festivities, the council spoke with them, each member commending them for their efforts. With that done, they were finally free to go.

They walked back out to the garden, Phineas and Tracy holding hands. They stopped by the same bench they had been at earlier and gazed at each other, smiling.

Jeff got uncomfortable. "OK, are we ready to go yet?" The new lovers laughed.

"Sure, kid, just lemme say goodbye to Tracy." He turned to her. "So, where should we meet? Rome? Paris? Pompeii...?"

"Siberia?" Jeff tossed in.

Bogg swatted at him and missed. Tracy thought for a moment. "How about, Germany, 1934, before all the ugliness happens." She saw a flicker of fear in his eyes and she kissed his hand. "We will be together and in the proper timeline. You need to do that."

He sighed. "You are right, of course. So, in what, two weeks?"

She smiled. "How about now?" They looked at each other, then Jeff, who just shrugged. He liked being with Bogg and Tracy.

"Now's good."

Tracy set her Omni and they were off.


End file.
